Problem: Simplify the following expression: $x = \dfrac{6p}{8p} + \dfrac{-2p - 2}{8p}$
Since the expressions have the same denominator we simply combine the numerators: $x = \dfrac{6p - 2p - 2}{8p}$ Combine like terms: $x = \dfrac{4p - 2}{8p}$ Simplify by dividing numerator and denominator by 2: $x = \dfrac{2p - 1}{4p}$